Agatha
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Post by Agatha on Jul 7, 2011 16:54:12 GMT -5
This thread has many excellent ideas! Thank you! Question: What inspired you to begin stockpiling? Truth, Iggy? Saving money by stocking up when prices are good is an excellent rationale. It makes sense. But I have another more secret reason. . .I'm lazy. It's nice to have what you need at hand so you don't have to get dressed, get the grocery bags together, go shopping, haul it all in, and put it away. Skipping a shopping day just soothes my lazy bone. There! True confession.
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Agatha
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Post by Agatha on Jul 7, 2011 16:54:29 GMT -5
This message has been deleted.
Double post!
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Jul 7, 2011 18:07:21 GMT -5
This thread has many excellent ideas! Thank you! Question: What inspired you to begin stockpiling? Iggy: Are you addressing me? My mom shopped this way. She also used coupons, but most of the coupons back in those days were either printed within the newspaper (newsprint) or they were on products that you had purchased at the store in their attempt to entice you to buy the same product again. I gave up my career to stay home and raise our son. It kind of bugged me that I was no longer contributing financially to the household and then I remembered my mom and how she shopped the ads, clipped coupons, and bought more than one or two of an item when she saw a really, REALLY good sale. I thought, "I might not be able to make money, but I sure as heck can save it" and I've never looked back. The difference between my mom's day and mine is that coupons were more readily available to me than they were to my mom; I had the Sunday newspaper coupon inserts and could get multiple copies of coupons if I wanted to or needed to.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Jul 7, 2011 18:32:56 GMT -5
Iggy- I spent a lot of time being raised by my maternal grandparents, who shopped this way. I didn't do it as an adult for various reasons (mostly my poor choices- mates, jobs, health) until my health brought everything crashing down around me. 2 years ago I was able to finally get back out on my own and immediately decided I needed to ensure my success (I was supposed to last 3 months in my own place and go running back home tail tucked behind me, unable to pay my bills). There was also some debate as to how I would take care of myself if I was confined to home due to bad weather or illness- just to prove my point, I broke my ankle 2 months into my stay at my current residence . With the help of my DM and DGM, I started a stockpile of things that I knew I would eat and knew how to cook (I have only learned how to really cook in the past 6 or 7 years) and continued building from there. I decided that certain things weren't worth the expense to keep on hand and now have cut them from the stockpile, but have decided that other things are a little pricier, but keep me happy (my spice rack always has certain more exotic items like curry and chipolte that I use all the time). My grandfather used to cut out coupons from the paper after church while catching the Sunday afternoon ballgame. He had a certain pair of silver scissors that were never sed for anything else. You knew you had "grown up" when you were allowed to use those scissors for a project or were allowed to help with the coupons. We also cut coupons and recipes from the packaging of products.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Jul 7, 2011 18:36:55 GMT -5
agathas- I never thought about the lazy part... And I should have...I am so lazy that when I have surgery I cook everything ahead so that it can either be microwaved or it is packaged ahead and can be eaten cold.
Karma for honesty!
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Jul 7, 2011 22:12:22 GMT -5
Dancin, I was addressing whomever has the passion to stockpile, yourself included. Right back atcha, Iggy
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daisylu
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Post by daisylu on Jul 8, 2011 7:44:33 GMT -5
When I was growing up, my dad worked in the steel industry. It was typical for him to be laid-off 3 months/year, so when times were good he stockpiled. He told us that when he was young, he went without dinner A LOT due to his own father's layoffs and he would never allow that to happen to us.
Even though I have been lucky enough to have good, stable employment this has always stuck with me. You never know when something catastophic will happen.
As a side note, my parents also buried a child at a very young age, and even though I carry life insurance on my children (which YM thinks is a big no-no) they also carry large policies on all of the grandchildren. Mainly because he thinks that work and bill paying should not weigh on you if you ever find yourself in that situation.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Jul 8, 2011 10:03:56 GMT -5
daisylu- We ave buried a lot of our friends before 35 (many before HS graduation) around here. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that grieving parents have been stuck with knowing that they can't afford to bury their child.
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daisylu
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Post by daisylu on Jul 8, 2011 13:37:05 GMT -5
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ses
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Post by ses on Jul 9, 2011 16:26:59 GMT -5
I find this an interesting topic. I live in an area with many Mormons whose church encourages preparedness. There are entire businesses built around this philosophy. After listening to them for many years I have developed my own philosophy about "stockpiles". Since I mostly cook from scratch and menu plan, generally a month at a time, I have learned how much I use on a regular basis of various pantry items--grain products (flours, oats, brown rice, and pasta...), dried legumes (dry beans, lentils, split peas...) sweeteners(honey, sugar, molasses, syrup, jams and gelatins...) and fats, oils mayonnaise and peanut butter...
I know how much dry milk i need to have on hand plus a few cans of evaporated. I know how many of various canned items I need to have on hand. I know how many pounds of meat, chicken, fish, frozen fruits and vegetables I want to have on hand through out the year. So, with the assistance of my trusty food vacuum sealer, I stock up on sales and bulk buys and repackage in more usable sizes and stash into my chest freezer or pantry. I easily can go for a year on my supplies. I am considering a mill so I can grind my own flour. (Whole grains store better long term than ground flour)
For full disclosure, I too, am lazy. And I hate to go to the grocery stores. I find if I am organized in my planning and supplies, and monitor the on-line adds, by living this way I save a bundle in both time and energy as well as money.
Living this way also gives me a little peace of mind considering the national and international situations.
I laud dancinmama for all the insight and encouragement she provides. Very smart lady there.
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Jul 12, 2011 20:11:32 GMT -5
If I didn't mind eating nothing but rice/beans/pasta a while, I would have to be truly hard up to try though--like end of the world stores don't exist you have what you have kind of hard up, as long as I had money or some sort of income stream I wouldn't try.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2011 11:03:13 GMT -5
dvn, I have way more than just rice and beans. I have tuna, frozen ground beef, steak and chicken. I have powder milk, some fruits from my garden and yes rice and beans. I also have cereal, outmeal, herbs and pasta. Honestly for the last two weeks we have spent less than $30 a week and still got some treats. We have been eating well but we have a huge stockpile and I'll like to cull it a little, and what is the use of a stockpile if you do not use it up?
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dividend
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Post by dividend on Jul 25, 2011 12:35:00 GMT -5
DBF called me up a few months ago and said, "Guess what honey? I just bought A WHOLE YEAR's worth of storable food!" I said, "That's great! For both of us?" Silence. Then, "Guess what honey? I just bought SIX MONTH's worth of storable food!" ;D
So, a month or 2 from my pantry / freezer, plus his six month, end-of-the-world stockpile.
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suziq38
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Post by suziq38 on Jul 25, 2011 17:44:29 GMT -5
On HB items I could live for 5 years. Cleaning supplies definitely 5-6 years. Toilet paper, TP, Paper towels 3 years. On canned goods, water, some boxed goods (cereals), I could live for about a year or slightly more. On frozen foods, 3-6 months.
I believe in a large stockpile.
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djmj3284
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Post by djmj3284 on Jul 29, 2011 17:48:02 GMT -5
I typically have 6 months of meat in the freezer in January - then it gets used by August or September to be refilled in November and December. Occasionally either a good sale or a craving takes over and I buy meat during the spring. 6 big turkeys at Thanksgiving - $0.39/lb, 4 hams at $0.77/lb, lots of ground beef from our butchers monthly case teardown. He is completely stocked in the morning but needs to disassemble the case one night a month to clean certain parts - last time I got 31lbs of ground beef at 1.29/lb. Brown it all and vacuum sealed into the freezer for casseroles. Sadly I always seem to buy frozen veggies as I need them.
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Poppet
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Post by Poppet on Aug 6, 2011 17:27:48 GMT -5
I am working on building a stockpile to last us at least 6 months. I have maybe a month of food. I dunno.
I am assuming HBA stands for health and beauty aids? My big concern is having plenty of TP. I could have a million rolls and not feel secure. ;D
It's not easy learning the ropes of stockpiling because I don't know how to do it right. I am starting with buying canned goods that my family will eat, dating it with my Sharpie pen and making a point to keep inventory and rotate, rotate, rotate.
i don't have any MREs or freeze dried stuff. We won't eat that regularly so when it expired we'd have to toss it. Wasteful.
I've been looking into what the LDS folks do, but when I do that I get overwhelmed and discouraged.
I 've also taken baby steps into the world of vegetable gardening, but I am a long way off from knowing how to can the bounty.
It's a learning process I guess.
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Poppet
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Post by Poppet on Aug 6, 2011 17:32:50 GMT -5
The bad economy has encouraged me to be very focused and more strategic about it than ever in the past.
Same here.
I started refreshing my frugal skills this past month. I find the ability to fall back on these skills oddly comforting. However, I am new to stockpiling even though I know about since The Tightwad Gazette book came out.
Anyway, I've discovered fellow frugals at the store. You see them hovering over the .88 cents a pound produce specials and stocking up on the $1.88 per pound chicken packs and getting rain checks when it's all sold out. You sort of give each other a knowing nod.
Seriously, people are getting medieval on their food budgets.
We are not alone.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Aug 6, 2011 18:34:25 GMT -5
I am working on building a stockpile to last us at least 6 months. I have maybe a month of food. I dunno. It's not easy learning the ropes of stockpiling because I don't know how to do it right. I am starting with buying canned goods that my family will eat, dating it with my Sharpie pen and making a point to keep inventory and rotate, rotate, rotate. I 've also taken baby steps into the world of vegetable gardening, but I am a long way off from knowing how to can the bounty. It's a learning process I guess. tome: Here are some tips that may or may not work for you. When you find a non-perishable that your family uses regularly that is free after coupon and/or in-store promotion, buy as many as you can based on the coupons you have and/or the store limits imposed. Get a rain check if possible and redeem before your coupons expire. IF you buy too many, it was free so no harm done and you can donate the excess to the food pantry at any time in the future. For perishable items, start marking containers with the date that you open them and make a note of when you use them up or note how many cans of tuna you use in a month, etc. Then when you see those items at rock bottom prices, you will have an idea of how many you will use before the expiration date that is stamped on the product. This will help you so that you don't over-stockpile perishables. There can be two or three sets of expiration dates for the same sale item. I usually look through them to make sure I am buying the product with the latest date stamped on it. HTH ;D BTW, you are not alone. Many of us who stockpile have a thing about TP!!
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Aug 7, 2011 1:55:37 GMT -5
Interesting question, I know personally I could live off my stockpile of food for 6-8 months though it may not be yummy or balanced.
What's really my challenge though is moving away from processed foods and eating more from scratch. So I'd rather not buy any rice a roni, just rice and spices so I can make my own. And I don't want bags of frozen vegetables, I want to buy my own, prepare and freeze it.
I know that makes me a) crazy and b) difficult but I'm getting more concerned with bioengineered food. I don't want to grow it myself since I'm on a small lot but I'd like to know where it comes from and have a years worth of food that is shelf stable or in the freezer.
For that reason I've been filling up my stock with dry beans, lentils, pasta, rice, nuts, etc. Everything else I try to eat fresh or prepare and freeze.
One thing I do is buy more fruit in the summer since I'm in the middle of great agriculture land here in California. Recently I made "fruit bombs" for smoothies that had 1/2 banana, 1/4 cup blackberries, 1/4 cup chopped strawberries, 2 TBS blueberries and 1/2 plum each. I made six in plastic baggies and froze them. It takes a few hours overnight in the fridge to defrost and add 1 cup of yogurt for a great smoothie. If I need to tame the tartness I add a bit of honey.
We can get 4 pound bags of broccoli for $1.50 right now so I have been steaming entire heads, including the stems. When it cools I chop into smaller chunks and freeze in small portions. Great addition to pasta dishes.
I agree with the others who said they don't have large portions of meat. Tomorrow I'm planning on boiling a 2.5 pound bag of chicken tenders. Then I'll use up that meat over 2 weeks in salads, burritos, tacos, and pasta dishes. A little bit goes a long way.
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kent
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Post by kent on Aug 7, 2011 11:01:34 GMT -5
We could go about 3-4 months.
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Poppet
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Post by Poppet on Aug 7, 2011 11:22:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip dancingmama.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Aug 7, 2011 12:32:09 GMT -5
"BTW, you are not alone. Many of us who stockpile have a thing about TP!!" I never did till last week. I think we are officially ready for the zombie apocalypse. This is crude but I feel like with the free and freap TP, Splenda and razors I ate till I puked. I got 100 FREE rolls of marcal TP and 12 12 packs of Cottonelle double rolls for $2 a pack, 21 FREE boxes of Splenda and 12 FREE packs of razors, 30 boxes of FREE tissues. I would say we have enough of the TP for 2 years. I actually put most of it in rubbermaid totes and shoved it in the attic and put a note under the ones in the bathroom saying where the rest is. I don't know how fast the Splenda or razors will last. I have a teenager who seems to consume more and more of everything is seems. I would think they should last a year. The tissues sadly will not last very far into 2012 with my 8 year olds allergies. I have always tried to stock up before school started on things like indiv snack crackers, cookies, puddings, juice boxes, bottled water etc. I think this year with the sale last week I may have enough to last the entire school year. That is assuming no one finds my stash and eats it all at home.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Aug 9, 2011 12:55:15 GMT -5
One thing I think people in some areas forget with their stockpile is how you would eat if there was no power. When we have had nasty snow the past few years, we have been fortunate to not lose power long enough where this was an issue, but I was ready to break out the 12qt stockpot, scoop snow for water, go start a fire in the parking lot, make biscuits in my cast iron, etc. Meanwhile, my next door neighbor is going "my microwave and XBox don't work!"
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Aug 9, 2011 13:08:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip dancingmama. Hope they helped. ;D
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Aug 9, 2011 13:12:58 GMT -5
"BTW, you are not alone. Many of us who stockpile have a thing about TP!!" I never did till last week. I think we are officially ready for the zombie apocalypse. This is crude but I feel like with the free and freap TP, Splenda and razors I ate till I puked. I got 100 FREE rolls of marcal TP and 12 12 packs of Cottonelle double rolls for $2 a pack, 21 FREE boxes of Splenda and 12 FREE packs of razors, 30 boxes of FREE tissues. I would say we have enough of the TP for 2 years. I actually put most of it in rubbermaid totes and shoved it in the attic and put a note under the ones in the bathroom saying where the rest is. I don't know how fast the Splenda or razors will last. I have a teenager who seems to consume more and more of everything is seems. I would think they should last a year. The tissues sadly will not last very far into 2012 with my 8 year olds allergies. I have always tried to stock up before school started on things like indiv snack crackers, cookies, puddings, juice boxes, bottled water etc. I think this year with the sale last week I may have enough to last the entire school year. That is assuming no one finds my stash and eats it all at home. beachbum: Awesome job!! Is this the most that you have ever stockpiled at one time (or a short period of time)? Watch the expiration on the Splenda, although I'm pretty sure that it won't explode on the date stamped on the box.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Aug 9, 2011 13:13:59 GMT -5
One thing I think people in some areas forget with their stockpile is how you would eat if there was no power. When we have had nasty snow the past few years, we have been fortunate to not lose power long enough where this was an issue, but I was ready to break out the 12qt stockpot, scoop snow for water, go start a fire in the parking lot, make biscuits in my cast iron, etc. Meanwhile, my next door neighbor is going "my microwave and XBox don't work!" We have a camp stove and a manual can opener. ;D
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Aug 9, 2011 13:48:58 GMT -5
Public housing- camp stoves and grills are verboten...
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Aug 10, 2011 19:15:37 GMT -5
We have enough that we could last several weeks in the event of an emergency (like a storm/natural disaster) and could cook on the propane grill if necessary. In the event of a financial emergency, we have enough that I could stretch things and probably get by on $10-20/wk for groceries (including HBA and household cleaners) for at least 6 months.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on Aug 10, 2011 19:32:18 GMT -5
Public housing- camp stoves and grills are verboten... Perhaps, though, they would allow people to use them in a REAL emergency.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Aug 10, 2011 21:31:59 GMT -5
I doubt it. They would rather the National Guard comr round us up. Been 2 fires out here in the past year.
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